London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

Sony fired the first shot in the next round of the console wars last night as it unveiled the eagerly-awaited PlayStation 4.

The powerful new version of its flagship gaming system will contain greater online and social media connectivity in an attempt to drive sales back up as it competes with Microsoft’s Xbox and Nintendo’s market-leading Wii.

The new console was previewed at a much-hyped event in Manhattan, with technology journalists and bloggers queing down the block to get the first look at the PlayStation 4, expected to go on sale later this year.

While Sony did not show how the console looks or give a price, it did unveil a new controller with a button that lets players share video game clips and give friends the ability to watch each other progress through games. PlayStation 4 puts an emphasis on cloud-computing, where instead of relying on physical copies users can access games and other content, including Netflix TV shows and digital movie rentals from Amazon, over the internet.

Sony acquired Gaikai, focused on cloud-based gaming technology, last July and its chief executive, David Perry, unveiled plans last night for what he billed as the world’s fastest gaming network for the PlayStation.